Hotels – SMC’s 3D solution puts Eccleston Square on top

Custom installer SMC has partnered with distributor AWE to bring the highest quality Panasonic 3D experience to guests staying at London’s hi-tech Eccleston Square, a member of Design Hotels. Panasonic Viera 46-inch 3D HD plasma TVs, available from AWE to companies like SMC who work in the custom installation sector, now feature in all 39 rooms of the hotel as part of SMC’s impressive integrated technology solution. The project, part of a multi-million pound renovation of the hotel, has proved so successful that the Eccleston Square has just secured top prize in the “Best In-Room Technology Innovation of the Year” category at this year’s prestigious European Hospitality Awards. The refurbishment of this Georgian-period property in London’s fashionable Belgravia has created a fusion between grand features and modern facilities. Behind the doors of the Eccleston Square lies an ultra-smart hideaway with cutting-edge technology in every room, inspired and influenced by exclusive super-yacht cabin chic. After working with AWE to clarify specifications and control suitability, SMC specified the 46-inch Panasonic 3D HD TVs from AWE to provide the best possible HD quality picture for the hotel’s guests, with totally reliable control. Each screen is connected to a SKY 3D HD box and a Panasonic 3D Blu-Ray player, also from AWE, complete with a library of 3D Blu-ray films, to ensure they can enjoy a varied, smart-home-from-home entertainment experience. A Panasonic sound bar delivers high quality audio to complete the dynamic home cinema effect. Guests also enjoy complimentary high-speed wireless internet, and free calls to London numbers, using the same technology as Skype.
Control of the Panasonic screen is achieved through a Control 4 remote, which also operates other systems and services in the room. These include finger-tip control for every possible function: lighting, curtains, soundtrack and temperature, which can be pre-set by the guest prior to arrival. Guests can use an iPad2 to order in-room dining, set preferred housekeeping times and even get themselves onto the guest list at some of London’s hottest clubs.@page_break@The hi-tech bathrooms in each room incorporate smart glass bathroom walls that can turn opaque or translucent, according to use. TVs are built into the bathroom’s heated mirror to ensure that guests can follow their favourite show or movie, even whilst brushing their teeth. In addition to the in-room entertainment, AWE has also provided a stunning 103-inch Panasonic TH-103VX200 3D screen in the Hotel’s bar which is used for events or as a dedicated movie screening area. A further six screens have been fitted by SMC into the Eccleston Square lifts, which inform and entertain guests on their journey to and from the bedroom.
“With AWE and Panasonic’s help, we have provided a state-of the-art audio-visual solution perfectly suited to the Eccleston Square project,” says Robin Courtenay, director at SMC. “For many guests, staying at a hotel represents a backward and frustrating step in terms of the in-room technology they experience compared to their own home. Not so at the Eccleston Square. Our solution sets the technology integration and entertainment quality bar higher than ever, and will be a standard that other hoteliers must attain if they are to remain competitive and attract customers in the future.” Elsewhere, high ceilings and enormous original windows dominate throughout the Eccleston Square Hotel. Black Murano glass chandeliers and Promemoria furnishings provide a tasteful yet sumptuous feel to the public areas which include a reception, drawing room bar and restaurant. Eccleston Square is both a stunning, boutique hotel and also a hi-tech haven for 21st century guests to savour. www.awe-europe.comwww.smc-uk.com